Best Fruit Tarts in Singapore

Hi everyone
Today's post is about Fruit Tarts. I love fruit tarts, it is a very yummy healthy dessert. It is made of short crust pastry with cream (my favourite is custard) topped with fresh fruits and brushed with jelly powder to give a nice glaze. You will never feel gelak (overkill) even from overeating them.

I learnt this great tip from one of my baking class. To prevent tart shells from getting soggy, brush the base with a layer of chocolate, wait for the chocolate to harden or dry completely before adding pastry cream. You can also brush base with egg white before baking. I've searched online for some of the best Fruit Tarts in Singapore.

1) Fruits Paradise

2) Drips Bakery Cafe


3) Delifrance


Please feel free to leave a comment if you know of good fruit tarts in Singapore. Thanks!

Love,
Sherlyn

Why I dislike online shopping

pic credit to http://www.expatliving.sg/body_style/fashion/Cheap-online-shopping-in-Singapore-Top-10-websites-for-awesome-deals-across-fashion-beauty-homes-kids-and-more-26259.ece

Is shopping online really cheaper? One of the reasons is that retailers do not have overheads and hence can transfer the savings to the consumers. 

Online shopping is also very addictive, you can spend hours surfing through the net, reading reviews. Consider me old-fashioned, I might be the minority who dislike online shopping except for hotel bookings, air tickets, insurance, gadget accessories- items which can't go wrong. I am the typical "auntie" mode who likes to be at a brick and mortar shop to touch, feel, try and check condition of product. I always ensure I request for a new piece. Here are the reasons why I dislike online shopping:

1) I hate camping by the computer for blogshop launches, fastest fingers first, waiting patiently for my shopping loots to be delivered to me. 

2) I hardly wore my online buys from local blogshops and Taobao cos the clothes is a far cry from what we seen online even though it looks real nice on the models.

3) The clothes do not fit me perfectly. I usually need to send to the tailor for alteration, which makes my buys more expensive.

4) I have some unfortunate experience where the seller sends a defective product. The effort of writing to and sending the product to seller is frustrating and waste of time. Some sellers customer service sucks, you have to follow up with a few round of emails and you might only get your replacement products months later (or never).

5) The clothes don't fit at all. For sizes which are too small, I have to give to my friends' teenage daughters. For sizes which are too big, I might send to tailor if I like it very much. Else, I might give away too.

6) Sometimes the flash sale is within a short time window. You deliberately have to make yourself available during that time to buy online.

7) The shipping charges might even cost more than the product. You won't know the estimated shipping charge your freight forwarder will charge until your products have arrived at the warehouse. You might be in for a rude shock!

8) Blogshops items are not necessary cheaper than brick and mortar stores.

9) Some stores exchange/ refund policy sucks, you get what I mean!

10) I hate backorders cos this means you are expected to wait 3-4 weeks for your products. Although the blogshops might say order at your discretion, however, sometimes shipment gets delayed eg due to high volume during festive periods, stuck at custom. By the time you receive the products, you might have lost interest or it is no longer the lastest.

11) I don't know about you but I have a tendency to overbuy online especially handphone cases that I won't be able to use all of them. They are either stowed in my cupboard or I end up having to give away.

What do you like/ dislike about online shopping? Please feel free to leave a comment.

Love,
Sherlyn

Fried Laksa Recipe. Uniquely Singapore dish.

Hi everyone
I love Laksa, it's one of my favourite Singaporean national dish. Here's a fried laksa recipe that I've tried last weekend. Most of the laksa are soupy kind. I forgotten to take a pic of the final dish but I can guarantee you that it is damn delicious with the generous servings of ingredients. Here's the ingredients required:

(makes about 15pax). You can half or adjust the recipe according to the number of pax you are preparing.
1 packet of Phoon Huat Laksa Paste (300g)
4-5 pcs of shallots, chopped finely
1 tablespoon of dried shrimps, soaked in hot water to soften and chopped finely
2 stalks of lemon grass (use white portion only, slit across to release flavour)
1.5kg thick been hoon
500g bean sprouts
10 pieces of dried bean curd puff (diced into cubes)
4 pcs of long fish cake (pan fried and sliced into strips)
6 hard boiled eggs, cut into strips
2 big pcs of chicken breast, boiled and shred finely
2 packet of Ayam Coconut
Dash of Carnation milk
2 pcs of Knorr Chicken Cubes (msg free)
1 tablespoon sugar
some laksa leaves chopped finely

Tip: soak bean sprouts in ice cold water, it will become very crisp.

Steps
1) Boil bean sprouts, thick bee hoon, chicken and egg. Drain and set aside.
2) Heat oil, fried shallots, dried shrimp and lemon grass till fragrant
3) Add laksa paste and stir fry a while before adding coconut milk, carnation milk and 400ml of water
4) Add 1 tablespoon of sugar or to taste and 2 cubes of chicken cubes. Add laksa leaves. Note: it's ok for the gravy to taste salty as this will be stirred with the bee hoon which is bland.
5) Add shredded chicken and bean curd puff
6) Bring to big boil until gravy thicken before stirring and mixing into pot of thick been hoon, bean sprouts, fish cake. Don't need to fry the noodle. Garnish with shredded egg.

Aftermath: Everyone commented this is the first time they have eaten dried laksa and it's very nice. Would be better if there are prawns in the dish, might consider that for next time!

Hope you like the recipe as much as I do!

Love,
Sherlyn

Best Rainbow Cakes in Singapore

Hi,
Today post is about rainbow cakes. I've always wondered rainbow has 7 colours ie Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet (mnemonic aid Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain). However, why does most rainbow cakes consist of only 6layers? Probably Indigo and Violet are very close colours.

I've searched online for some recommendations of best Rainbow cakes in Singapore:

1) Le Chocolat Cafe
28 Ann Siang Rd, Singapore 069708

2) Dean & Deluca
Orchard Central, Level 4

3) Nom Bistro & Bakery
Macpherson Community Club Level 1

4) The Bakery Chef
Blk 161 Bukit Merah Central #01-3711

5) Oishii Bakery
West Coast Plaza, 154 West Coast Road

6) Lynda Ann
122 Bedok North Street 2, 460122

Edit:
New edition: Tian Kee & Co Rainbow Cheesecake

Oktoberfest: Best Black Forest Cake in Singapore

Oktoberfest is the famous Beerfest Festival held in Munich, Germany every late September, early October that dates back to 1810. Black Forest cake is possibly Germany's most famous cake and it is also my all-time favorite. 

Black Forest cake consists of several layers of chocolate cake, with whipped cream and cherries between each layer. The cake is decorated with additional whipped cream, maraschino cherries, and chocolate shavings.Traditionally, kirsch (a clear liquor distilled from tart cherries) is added to the cake and is one of the most significant ingredients in the world's famous cake. source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest_cake.

And so, I've searched online for recommendations for some of the best black forest cakes in Singapore.

1) Pine Garden's Cakes
1 kg $39, 1.5 kg $58.50

2) Four Leaves
21cm $35

3) StuttgartBlackforest Boutique S-Cafe

4) Classic Cakes
1kg $36, 1.6kg $54, 2kg $72

5) Han's Cafe

6) Bakerzin Foret Noir
 20cm, $72.76 (incl GST)

Try before you buy! Free Product Samples 2014

Hi
Try before you buy! Everyone loves free samples, here are some sites that offer free product samples. Happy trialing!

1) Hada Labo
Arbutin Whitening Lotion

Super Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Lotion

2) Acne Medicated Skincare 

3) Origins

4) Biotherm
Life Plankton

Blue Therapy Serum-in-Oil

5) Clarins
Extra Firming Eye Cream

6) Kiehl's

7) Curel
Intensive Moisture Care

Sebum care

8) Physiogel

9) Bio-essence Hydra Tri-action Aqua Droplet Sleeping Beauty Mask

10) My Beauty Diary

11) John Frida Fizz Ease

 12) Vichy Normaderm Oil-Control Duo

13) Lactacyd Feminine Wash

14) Listerine

Thanks for the free samples!

Love
Sherlyn

Virgin post

Hi there,
I'm a blogger from Singapore. Thanks for visiting my blog.

As the saying goes, "Good things are meant to be shared!", this blog was created to help shoppers save time and money, read reviews before you buy that product.

If you have any good lobangs to share, please email to savethatmoolah@gmail.com. I'll post it on my blog. Happy reading!

Love,
Sherlyn